The Song Of The Fall Is Almost 14 Years Old

There’s a reason why we don’t have a “song of the summer” conversation for fall. Rather than searching for new songs to accurately capture the complicated wave of emotions that comes with the changing of the seasons, we often find ourselves returning to our favorite comfort songs as soon as the first brown leaf hits the pavement. And based on a new Spotify streaming milestone, it seems like the people have selected their perennial autumnal classic. Spoiler alert: it’s extremely fitting.

On Nov. 2, Spotify announced that “Sweater Weather” by The Neighbourhood had officially surpassed 5 billion streams on the platform, making it the third song in the streamer’s history to reach this achievement. The milestone comes nearly 14 years after its release in December 2012, though the momentum has been building steadily for at least five years. The song earned its first billion streams in July 2021, before surpassing the two billion mark in February 2023. In July 2024, two billion became three billion, and three billion became four in September 2025. Despite these dates, however, “Sweater Weather” always sees the highest number of streams in October, with the streaming surge beginning in September, peaking in October, and sustaining through November, per Spotify.

This is hardly the first time we’ve seen an older song become a seasonal phenomenon: Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time in 2019, 25 years after its release. Since then, the song has gone to No. 1 seven times over, has become one of the longest-running No. 1 singles in US chart history, and will probably climb its way back to the top of the charts by the end of the year.

This summer was also a major year for what will likely become one of the defining songs of the warm weather season for years to come, Zara Larsson’s “Midnight Sun.” Released in June 2025, the seasonal anthem didn’t appear on the Hot 100 until January 2026, where it debuted at No. 81. It spent the following six months creeping up the charts, eventually peaking at No. 12 on Oct. 24. The song has already fallen down to No. 18 following this accomplishment —- an undeniable signifier that summer is officially over, and a new guard has moved in.